A State Government move to allow hotels, clubs and the Adelaide Casino to install pokie machines that accept notes, rather than only coins, has prompted fierce criticism from crossbenchers and welfare groups who claim it is a sop to the hotel industry that will only harm problem gamblers.

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Potential political kingmaker and longtime anti-gambling crusader Nick Xenophon insists poker machine policy will play a decisive role in the state election campaign – despite the hotels lobby insisting it’s a third-order issue.

Crown Casino has been accused of deliberately tampering with poker machines to increase gamblers’ losses, with MP Andrew Wilkie telling federal parliament the allegations suggest a “broader pattern of misbehaviour” in the pokies industry.

There is no “safe” level of gambling which means harm minimisation strategies should try to reduce the use of pokies by everyone, not just problem gamblers, argue Francis Markham, Bruce Doran and Martin Young.